Sew Generous!

 I was lucky enough to win two giveaways during Sew Grateful week.

Silvia was giving away two patterns; one from Paco Peralta and one from Maria Denmark. I won the Paco Peralta skirt pattern and it arrived today. I am impressed with the speedy mail service from Spain as the patterns were mailed on February 18.

Paco also generously included the Draped Top pattern with the Half-Circle skirt.

  I've been eye-balling the skirt pattern for ages but had not quite committed to buy it. I am so spoiled.

I'll have to find the right fabric to make it up in. I'm already dreaming of spring -I'll have to start sewing for that season.

I'm Over Here! Where Are You?

I copied this straight from Debi's blog. Spread the word.

Have you heard about the cool thing Vicki who blogs over at Another Sewing Scientist has created?  There is now a google map of sewing peeps!!

What a neat idea and a great way to find like-minded sewing enthusiasts nearby for meet-ups!!

Here's all you have to do...
Open this link to get to Map the Sewintists
Click on the red Edit button on the left
Click on the blue pin on the upper left of the map (though I would only do this after you've gotten to your area of the world on the map--I accidentially dropped my blue pin near Iceland...lol)
Click on your location to drop the pin
A box will open that will allow you to add your name or blog URL in rich text

Sew Grateful Week Giveaway Winners

It's time to find out the winners of my giveaway!!

I went to visit my parents this weekend (always a lovely thing when I consider how many of my friends have lost one or both of their parents) and when I got back into town, I wrote the names of the contestants on a piece of paper, cut the large piece into little pieces, folded them up...

 and put them into my slingshot... (anyone can use a random number generator, but not everyone has a slingshot)

 ...and fired them down the hallway. The ones that went the farthest won.

 So, the most aerodynamic people are!!!

It wasn't until I had started this post that I realized that I hadn't written by everyones name the number of  their preferred giveaway. Luckily, they all wanted something different so things turned out in the end. I guess the fates decided to tip-toe around the crazy lady.

Ladies, you'll be getting an email in your in-box shortly. And shortly after that, something in your mailbox that isn't a bill.

Thank you all for playing along!

Sew Grateful Tutorial - A Simple Carry-all

Yesterday we took the baby things over to young Wilhelm.  I had been looking for a gift bag to put them in when I remembered this hockey fabric I'd seen when I was rummaging around for the giveaway goodies.

Many people in this town are obsessed with hockey so I figured Wilhelm should have something, like this bag, to provoke questions. It is better to learn about the seedier side in life at home, from your parents, than in the street.

This is Sew Grateful week and this is my tutorial for a very simple bag or carry-all. I expect most people know how to make one, but it doesn't hurt to have a different perspective. I have been making these for years,  long before the internet became a daily part of everyday life. I expect I saw the idea in a magazine or newspaper article. So, in my typical quick-and-dirty fashion, here we go. Please ask me questions if there are parts of this that do not make sense.

1. Decide how big it should be. Using a measuring tape is a grand idea, but I prefer to hold it next to what I plan to carry in it.

Measure for size

2. Cut or tear your fabric to the correct size for the body and handles. If you want a bag approximately 40 cm across the front and  20 cm on the side and 20 cm deep your piece would have to be 60 cm long and 30 cm deep. Note: The sides and bottom get 10 cm from the 'front' piece and 10 cm from the 'back' piece. Add a seam allowance if want it exactly 20 cm.

Prepare bag body and handle.

3. Make sure to note which way is up.

Decide which way the pattern will run.

4. Serge or sew the side and bottom seams. If your fabric does not have a nap or destinct pattern just fold the fabric in half, match at the top, and close the side seams.

Sew or serge the side and the bottom seams.

5. Fold the handles in half along the long edge. If you are not sergeing the raw edge, place the right sides together, sew along the long edge and turn right side out.

Serge or sew the handles.

6. Cut the long piece in half to make two handles.

Cut the handle piece in two.

7. Pull the bag apart and spread it open so the bottom seam is lined up with the side seam to form a point. In the pictures below my thumb is on the side seam and my fingers are on the bottom seam. Do the same for the other end.

Match up side (under thumb) and bottom seam.

Matching seams, different angle, with side seam  under my thumb and the bottom seam directly underneath.

8. Mark the point for the corner seam. The further you come in from the point, the wider the bag will be. If you are aiming for 20 cm, sew across at the point where it is 20 cm wide.
Mark the second side.

Mark where to serge or sew across the corner.

9. Sew or serge across both corners.

One corner finished.



Both corners finished.



Bag standing inside out.

10. Turn the top of the bag down to finish the edge; turn it once if you have serged the raw edges, twice if you are sewing. Stitch around the entire top edge

(I don't know what blogger is doing, but it has linked the next two pictures together and I cannot move them apart. Grrr)

Attach the handles at the appropriate distances.

11. Pin the handles in place and sew.
I found the center side to be 10 inches so I attached the handles equally away from the center. (The metric system was introduced in Canada when I was in Grade 5. My poor teachers did not have a clue about this new way of doing things, and since I hadn't even mastered the Imperial system yet, I don't really know either system. As in this tutorial, I use Imperial and metric interchangably. I measure distance in kilometers, then have to convert to miles to know how long that will take to travel. I know my height in inches and weight in pounds, but I buy my food in grams and my fabric in meters. But I digress.)

12. Turn the bag right side out and use as you see fit.

Action shot.

Many Canadian kids have a hockey bag but I doubt many of them got their first one when they were 10 days old.

Sew Grateful Week Giveaway

Debi is once again having Sew Grateful Week on her blog, and I'm going to play too!

I have three giveaways -the sneakiest way of stash busting I've ever heard of! Actually, I figure if I am not going to use it, I might as well send it off to a good home where someone else might give it the attention it deserves.

First up:
Two meters of 150 cm wide off-white rayon blend (I think it has a small amount of nylon) and a McCall's top pattern. I bought that pattern because I liked the cowl neck, but its a little too flowing for my tastes.

2m of 140 cm off-white rayon blend.

Next; three meters of 110 cm wide light blue rayon. The colour does not photograph well, as this looks very washed out. Trust me, it is a rather nice blue.
The 1.8 m X 150 cm plaid is gray with darker gray and blue contrasting colours. The blue contrast is the same colour as the rayon. I seem to remember this fabric being a viscose blend and has an interesting weave. I do like the way they look together, but I don't look good in pastels, so it's been languishing in a drawer. I always thought I'd make a suit or something but since I've had both pieces of fabric for over twenty years (would that make it vintage?), the odds of me making something out of it now are pretty slim.

3m of 110 cm blue rayon; 1.8m of 150 cm viscose blend.

Lastly; I've been learning to knit and it's been slow going, which still won't stop me from encouraging others.
This bundle has an instruction booklet for knitting stitches, a magazine with easy patterns and instructions, and the sweater magazine. They all seem to be from the Seventies, and there are some really cool patterns inside.

Introduction to knitting booklet and magazines.

Entry rules are pretty simple.
1. Indicate in the comments which item you would like. If only one person wants it, then its theirs. More than one and I'll do a random number generator (or something like that).
2. Please tell me how old you were when you started to sew. I'm always curious about stuff like that.
3. Please send me a picture (or a link to your blog if you have one) so I can satisfy my curiosity about what you saw the stuff to be. If you knit something, please show me that.
If you don't have a blog, please indicate somewhere your email address so I can contact you should you win. If  I can't find an address, I'll move on; I have a very short attention span. I will mail this anywhere there is postal service. I'll accept entries until 0800 hours Central Standard Time on Sunday, February 10, 2013.

Game on!!

Useful Baby Items

My friend Dot had her baby on Monday.
I have never had children but my sisters and my friends have told me what things they found most useful when they had their babies, so I made those things for Dot.
Since babies tend to be incredibly messy, this is all clean-up stuff; six spit-up cloths, one double-flannelette receiving blanket, a dozen washcloths, and one flannel-backed bath towel with a neck strap.
We plan to go meet  young Wilhelm Andreas this week. Time will tell if Dot will find these things useful as well.